Jul 23, 2008 12:07 am US/Pacific
Judge Approves Cal Sports Center In Oak Grove
BERKELY (CBS 5 / AP / BCN) ―
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The cluster of oak trees where UC Berkeley plans to build a sports training center on campus.
AP
A planned sports center at the University of California, Berkeley, that has been the focus of an impassioned 18-month-long tree-sitting protest, moved a step closer to reality late Tuesday as a judge gave campus officials a go-ahead to build.
Alameda County Superior Court Judge Barbara Miller's ruling dissolves an injunction on construction in seven days, which gives opponents of the university project time to appeal — something they promised would happen.
Campus spokesman Dan Mogulof said officials were "very pleased"
with the decision. He added, "We look forward to the start of a construction process."
But Doug Buckwald, spokesman for a group called Save the Oaks, said opponents hoped to stop the project by going to the Court of Appeals.
"It would be a real tragedy to lose the beloved oak grove now, and then win in court later when it would be too late to save the trees," he said. "You can't put stumps and sawdust back in the ground and make things all better again."
University officials had stepped up eviction tactics against the tree-sitters in recent weeks. As of Tuesday night, three people remained in the trees.
For now, Mogulof told CBS 5 that the university did not plan to take any immediate action to remove those remaining protesters.
The controversy began in December 2006 after the UC Regents approved plans to build the sports center, which called for tearing down most of the trees in the oak cluster.
The city of Berkeley, the California Oak Association and a neighborhood group, the Panoramic Hill Association, then sued the university in an attempt to save the trees — challenging the project on environmental and seismic safety grounds.
The athletic training center would be built next to Cal's Memorial Stadium, which sits on top of the Hayward fault. Retrofitting the stadium is also part of the sports facility project.
Miller blocked construction in January 2007, issuing an injunction while the lawsuit was pending. Following a trial, she issued a ruling that favored the university on most points but said she had remaining questions about a few aspects of the project.
Campus lawyers responded by eliminating the items Miller questioned and argued that left no reason not to lift the injunction.
There were questions as to whether possible changes proposed by university officials to the stadium would pose a threat to safety, especially in the removal of a grade beam along the base of the west wall.
But Miller ruled that "the University has submitted competent evidence that the design changes, and in particular the omission of the grade beam, will not result in safety risks."
The university will have to prove, though, that the total costs of removing the grade beam, altering two staircases and penetrating the ground floor slab would cost less than 50 percent of the value of the stadium itself, the ruling stated.
In her decision Tuesday, Miller not only lifted the building ban — she also ordered the trio that brought suit to reimburse the university for 85 percent of its legal costs.
Aside from the legal tab, UC attorney Charles Olson said the estimated cost of the athletic project had grown by more than $11 million since Miller's injunction was issued.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. The Associated Press and Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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